How EC manipulates election results to declare Akufo-Addo winner of Presidential Polls

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Electoral Commission of Ghana under the auspices of Mrs. Jean Mensa to have manipulated the 2020 election results to declare President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president elect.

The action has created series of social media engagements and disagreement of the declared results by the Electoral Commission.

Coverghana Media Network (Coverghana.com.gh) has conducted an independent investigations into the matter and therefore suggest that, the allegation of majority Ghanaians on social media may be true since the Electoral Commission has displayed inconsistencies during and after the declaration of the results.

The video below is update by Mrs. Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission on 8th December, 2020 regarding the progress of collation of the 2020 Presidential election results.

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During a live press conference organized by the Electoral Commission on Wednesday, 9th December, 2020, Mrs. Jean Mensa has told the general public that, the total number of valid votes cast was 13,434,574 representing 79% of total registered voters from 38,622 polling stations across the 275 constituencies in Ghana.

The table below represents the exact declaration of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission’s Presidential results.

ORDER ON BALLOT	PARTIES	NAME OF CANDIDATES	VOTES OBTAINED	VOTES IN PERCENTAGE
1	NPP	NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO	6,730,413	51.595%
2	NDC	JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA	6,214,889	47.366%
3	GUM	CHRISTIAN KWABENA ANDREWS	105,565	–
4	CPP	IVOR KOBINA GREENSTREET	12,215	0.093%
5	GFP	AKUA DONKOR	5,575	0.042%
6	GCPP	HENRY HERBERT LARTY	3,574	0.027%
7	APC	HASSAN AYARIGA	7,140	0.054%
8	LGP	PERCIVAL KOFI AKPALOO	7,690	0.059%
9	PNC	DAVID ASIBI AYINDENABA APASERA	10,887	0.083%
10	PPP	BRIGETTE AKOSUA DZOGBENUKU	6,848	0.052%
11	NDP	NANA KONADU AGYEMAN-RAWLINGS	6,612	0.050%
12	IND	ALFRED KWAME ASEIDU WALKER	9,703	0.074%
			13,434,574

 

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The chairperson of the Commission noted that, the election results of the Techiman South Constituency with a total votes of 128,018 is not part of the figures mentioned. According to her, even if the entire results from Techiman South Constituency is added to the results of Mr. John Dramani Mahama, he cannot win the presidential elections. She therefore went ahead to declare Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president elect.

INTERPRETATION OF THE TABLE

Mrs. Jean Mensa mentioned in her press conference that, a total of 13,434,574 valid votes were casted during the December 2020 Presidential Elections representing 79%.

Our observation disclosed that;

1. no percentage was mentioned for CHRISTIAN KWABENA ANDREWS, the Presidential Candidate for Ghana Union Movement (GUM) during EC’s press conference.
2. the figure 13,434,574 as quoted by Mrs. Jean Mensa is more than the sum of individual votes obtained by each candidate.
3. the sum of votes obtained by individual Presidential Candidate declared during EC’s press conference is 13,121,111. 
4. the different in votes of figure mentioned by EC at the press conference and the actual summation is 13,434,574 – 13,121,111 = 313,463
5. the percentage for each candidate did not tally as declared by the Electoral Commission taking into account the total valid votes.
6. total percentage of all candidates excluding that of CHRISTIAN KWABENA ANDREWS, the Presidential Candidate for Ghana Union Movement (GUM) is 99.495. This means that, GUM Presidential Candidate had 0.505 (100-99.495).

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NOTE: Ideally, the Sum of votes cast = Valid votes obtained by all candidates + Total rejected ballots. With this, the percentage of total valid votes and percentage of total rejected ballots must be equal to 100%. Though the chairperson did not give percentage of rejected ballots, summation of percentage for valid votes is 100%, a situation where CHRISTIAN KWABENA ANDREWS, the Presidential Candidate for Ghana Union Movement (GUM) is said to have 0.505 (100-99.495).

The video below is  the declaration of the 2020 Presidential Election Results by Mrs. Jean Mensa, Chairperson, Electoral Commission.

AFTERMATH OF ELECTION RESULTS DECLARATION

Soon after the declaration of results, the Electoral Commission posted a flyer on its official Facebook Page with a statement “Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party declared President-Elect.”

The flyer as shared by the Electoral Commission declared Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as president elect with 6,730,413 total votes obtained representing 51.295% without Techiman South Constituency.

EC receives 14 out of 16 regional results, declares certified results of 7 regions

OBSERVATION

Our observations show that, the percentage on the flyer is different from the percentage of votes declared by EC during its press conference.

Below is the flyer shared by EC on its official Facebook page.

Mahama leads Akufo-Addo in 7 certified regional Presidential results published by EC

AMEDMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS

On the following day, Thursday, 10th December, 2020 (Less than 24hrs) after the declaration of the presidential election results, the Electoral Commission has again published a new press statement indicating the Summary of the 2020 Presidential Election results without the Techiman South Constituency.

In the new statement, the Commission has captured a different total valid votes cast thus; 13,119,460 but failed to provide percentage of the total valid votes cast.

The statement also provided a new total valid votes obtained for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Mr. John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) including other candidates. The new votes obtained by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as captured in the latest press statement is 6,730,587 representing 51.302% while Mr. John Dramani Mahama had total valid votes of 6,213182 representing 47.359%.

EC speaks on its inability to declare Presidential election results

Find attached the press statement of EC and the post shared on its official Facebook page. 

[pdf-embedder url=”https://coverghana.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Summary-2020-Presidential-Election-Results.pdf” title=”Summary 2020 Presidential Election Results”]

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National Declaration of Presidential Statement of Polls

It’s the responsibility of the Electoral Commissioner who is the Returning Officer of the Presidential election to complete a National Declaration of Presidential Statement of Polls using the Regional Declaration of Statement of Polls before declaring the winner of the election. The Chairperson is also expected to seal the presidential statement of polls in a tamper proof bag at the presence of political party agents.

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According to the constitution of Ghana, it’s a crime to alter figures on the Statement of Polls on a Pink sheet after the declaration of election results without consultation and agreement of parties involved.

It’s unclear as to whether, the Electoral Commissioner Mrs. Jean Mensa, who is the Returning Officer of the Presidential election has tampered with the Presidential Statement of Polls after the declaration of the results or has abandoned the first Pink sheet and re-filled an entirely new one to tally with her second figures as captured in the press statement.

We will reject any attempt to subvert Presidential election results – Mahama

Our investigation also disclosed that, the largest opposition party thus; National Democratic Congress, which is the major threat to the President elect in the December 2020 Polls was not consulted before the new press statement was issued.

The conduct of the Electoral Commission was clear that, they were not ready to declare the presidential election results at the time they did. This has accounted to the inconsistencies experienced on the part of EC.

This indicates the opposition party has a point in rejecting the election results, branding it as flawed.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh